1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to child safety car seats and in particular to a child safety car seat that has a remote controled motorized reclining capability and maintains proximity with the vehicle seat back for safety.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While riding in cars, children normally wish to remain upright in a seated position to look around or play. But children often fall asleep while riding. In the safety child car seats, now required by law, a child falling asleep in a sitting position usually winds up with his or her head bent over in an uncomfortable position with the child""s neck contorted downward and sideways and the child""s head often falls forward in a potentially choking position unless the seat is reclined.
Some prior art child car seats are capable of reclining to allow the child to be in a comfortable position while sleeping and still be protected in the child car safety seat. These reclining seats provide a variety of means for raising or lowering the seat. All of them require special attention to lower or raise the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,877, issued Jun. 3, 1980 to Ettridge provides a children""s reclining car seat operably with a mechanical lever arm located on the side of the chair in a position that would be very difficult to reach from the front seat of the vehicle to adjust the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,799, issued Nov. 20, 2001 to Greger et al., shows an adjustable car seat that requires turning a knob to adjust the seat. While the knob is positioned in the front of the seat, which may be easy to access, it requires considerable turning to adjust the seat through a full range of motion, which would be very distracting to a person trying to drive and adjust the seat at the same time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,762, issued Apr. 6, 1999 to Yoshida, presents a child seat for a vehicle capable of reclining to a desired angle with a chair portion having a pair of convex curved sliding surfaces on each side of the bottom of the seat and a base having a pair of mating concave curved sliding surfaces on each side of the top of the base. A lock-releasing lever controls pins positioned in openings to lock the seat in place relative to the base. The operation is something that should not be performed while driving.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,142, issued Nov. 27, 2001 to Yoshida et al., claims a reclining child car seat with an inclination indicator for adjusting the reclining angle. A convex seat bottom slides on a pair of raised concave tracks protruding from the top sides of the base. Pins through a high back support are inserted into a series of openings on the seat to secure it in place. This requires stopping the car and working on the seat directly to adjust the reclining angle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,613, issued Oct. 8, 1985 to Martel et al., describes a car seat carrier with a rigid molded seat that pivots on a pair of supports elevated above a base. Spring loaded control knobs control the pivoting angle. Considerable effort and attention must be paid to the knobs to adjust the reclining angle of the seat.
Either the parent must stop the vehicle to lower or raise the child safety seat or risk getting into an accident to attempt to raise or lower the seat while driving. It is usually very difficult to adjust a child car seat located in the back seat of the car or adjacent seat of the vehicle from the driver""s seat. To do so while driving is very dangerous.
A parent can see the child in the rear view mirror or looking to the side to determine if the child is falling asleep or waking up, thereby requiring an adjustment of the child safety seat.
What is needed is a remote control with a motorized means for raising and lowering the child safety seat back and forth between an upright seating position and a lowered reclining position for sleeping.
One U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,960, issued Dec. 1, 1987 to Launes describes a reclinable children""s car seat having a motor and drive shaft with pinions and a curved rack of the moving seat riding on the drive shaft so that the weight of the seat and the child has a tendency to stop the turning of the drive shaft. All the moving parts are exposed so that a child is able to get fingers or blankets or toys stuck in the moving works of the seat. A manual override handle extends from one end of the drive shaft so that it would be rotating when the motor is in operation, presenting another hazard. While this invention makes it easy to adjust the angle of the seat, it presents many hazards to the child and has features which are not likely to function efficiently.
To prevent whiplash and other injury to the child in the safety seat in case of a rear-end collision, the safety seat back should maintain close proximity with the vehicle seat back to minimize movement in case of a rear-end collision.
So, a truly safe child safety seat with all moving parts enclosed and a fully operational remote control and a motor drive system that rotates freely without undue weight bearing down it would be desirable, as well as a reclining child safety seat which maintains close proximity with the vehicle seat back. The present invention answers that need.
An object of the present invention is to provide a child car safety seat which can automatically be adjusted to any position back and forth between an upright sitting position and a reclining sleeping position by employing an electric motor with a gear system, pulley system, winch and cord system, hydraulic system, screw-drive system, or other means for raising and lowering the seat to any desired angle between the fully upright position and the fully reclined position.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a remote control for automatically and remotely controlling the position of the child car safety seat to adjust it between an upright position and a reclined position.
One more object of the present invention is to provide a motorized reclining child safety seat which maintains close proximity with the vehicle seat back to prevent in jury to the child in case of a rear-end collision.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a motorized reclining child safety seat with all of the moving parts safely housed in a molded plastic shell enclosure not accessible to the child to prevent injury to the child and clogging of the moving works by any blankets, clothing, or toys in the possession of the child.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a motorized child safety seat with the drive mechanism separate from the supporting weight-bearing arched track on which the chair reclines. Ball bearings or a low friction coating, such as Teflon enables easy movement of the seat in the base. A pair of horizontal sprockets enclosed in the base engage an arched groove in a vertical surface of the seat, or a double-action winch or windlass with a wrapped cord connected to pins on the seat move the seat to a desired inclination, wherein the driving sprockets, related gears and drive shafts or related pulleys and drive belts or alternate winches and cords do not support the weight of the seat to create an efficiently running system with no constriction of the motor functioning.
One more object of the present invention is to provide a child safety seat with a motor means which can run off of the car electrical system by plugging it into the cigarette lighter, by a rechargeable battery pack or other means.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a means to lock the seat in a secure position either by the stationary sprockets in the arched groove of the seat or by a solenoid pin from the base engaged in one of a series of openings in the seat or other locking means.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a child car safety seat which is attachable to the car seat by means of the car seat belts.
In brief, a child car safety seat has an upper seat portion which moves relative to the base of the seat in a secure arched track while maintaining close proximity with the vehicle seat back, preferably on roller bearings or fabricated of Teflon or other low friction surfaces or on low friction pivot points, between an upright sitting position and a reclined sleeping position and any desired position inbetween.
Any type of motor may be used including an electric motor with a rechargeable battery pack and/or connected to the car""s electrical system, preferably with a cigarette lighter plug.
In one embodiment, the motor turns a pair of sprockets by a drive shaft and gear system or by a belt system with pulleys other means to engage the sprocket teeth in an arched groove on the upper seat portion, the arched groove having spaced ridges and openings mating with the teeth of the sprocket to move the upper portion of the seat. The sprocket engaging the ends of the arched groove will stop the movement of the seat at desired limits of movement wherein the seat is either in the upright sitting position or reclined sleeping position. The sprocket teeth act as a locking means to secure the seat an a stationary position when the motor is off.
In an alternate embodiment, the motor turns a pair of double-action winches or windlasses with a high friction cord or belt wound around the winch or windlass connected to an upper pin and a lower pin on the seat. The winch or windlass and cord and pins on each side of the seat are enclosed within a walled portion of the seat bottom. Stops on the base engage the seat walls to stop the movement of the seat at desired limits of movement wherein the seat is either in the upright sitting position or reclined sleeping position. A solenoid protruding from the base, preferably out of the motor protrudes into one of a series of holes in the seat to lock the seat in place when the motor is off. When the motor is activated the solenoid retracts to permit free movement of the seat.
In another embodiment using a pivotable seat, a motor pivotally connected to the either the base or the seat and screw drive or a hydraulic telescoping driver or other means pivotally connected to the other component reversibly pivots the seat from an upright sitting position to a reclined sleeping position.
Configuring the arch of incline in the arched track version to approximate a 45 degree or less angle maintains the safety seat in close proximity with the vehicle seat back during all positions of inclining and reclining. Alternately, a segmented base on the seat riding in an arched track allows the safety seat bottom to move forward while the safety seat back maintains a position always in close proximity to the vehicle seat back while reclining.
In a pivotable seat or arched track seat not configured for maintaining contact with the vehicle seat back, a spring-loaded arm and roller from the safety seat maintains contact with the vehicle seat back in all positions.
In a preferred embodiment, a high pivot point on each side of the base pivotally supports a pendulum arm which hangs down to connect to a pivot point on the side of the safety seat, so that when the safety seat, initially in close proximity with the vehicle seat back, maintains close proximity with the vehicle seat back as the safety seat reclines and then pivots forward. A series of pivot arms may be used on both sides of the child safety seat.
A hand-held or other remote control switch is operated by the driver or others in the car to automatically activate the motor and adjust the child car safety seat to the desired position for the comfort of the child.
The bottom portion of the child car safety seat encloses the motor and drive systems and is also provided with a pair of openings, one on each side of the back edge of the bottom portion to admit the car seat belt therethrough and secure the child car safety seat in the back seat of the car.
An advantage of the present invention is that the driver of a vehicle carrying one or more young children in child safety seats, which are required to be positioned on the back seat of the vehicle, can observe the child or children in the rear view mirror and automatically control the motorized reclining mechanism of the child seat(s) with a remote control without having to stop the vehicle or risk having an accident by turning around to adjust the child safety seat while driving.
One more advantage of the present invention is that it provides a reclining safety seat which maintains close proximity with the vehicle seat for the entire range of reclining and inclining positions in accordance with state laws.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it safely conceals all of the moving parts within the housing of the base and seat so that the child will never get anything stuck in the moving works of the motorized reclinable seat.
A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides an efficient non-weight bearing motor drive system to get optimum performance from the motor.